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Round Table Discussion

In the illustration that follows, we gathered various members of the community to discuss the issue: “Teens Run Amok.” They include a parent, a city official, a law enforcement officer, a teen, an educator, and a community service worker. The illustration shows two scenarios with actual excerpts from the roundtable discussion. In the first scenario, the community members were asked to discuss the issue from a deficit approach. In the other, they were asked to discuss the issue from an asset approach. In each scenario, see how each community member first perceives the issue from her or his perspective, and then the potential actions to be taken.

First Scenario: Deficit Perspective

When community groups work together on issues, they commonly focus on what is going wrong in the situation. This approach often leads to dead ends, finger pointing, and failure to involve group members in shared solutions.

Participant	Perception of Issue	Potential Actions
Parent	“I’ve got to work every day and I’m barely making it. I can’t be here when they come home, so they are hanging with bad kids.”	“I think that it’s the school’s responsibility to make sure our kids are kept busy and out of trouble.”
City Official	“I think it’s law enforcement’s fault. They should be handing out more tickets and violations.”	“You know we probably should look into building new juvenile detention centers.”
Police Officer	“It’s just poor parenting. I mean the parents just don’t care about their kids and they’re letting these kids run around and have no control.”	“We have to be tough. We have to really show them who is the boss and what rules they have to follow or else they are just going to have worse and worse trouble.”
Student	“We are extremely bored, there is nothing to do around here and adults don’t really seem to care.”	“We’re not breaking the law or anything. Just get off our back. We’re just hanging, chilling, doing our thing.”
Teacher	“I can tell you that we wouldn’t be having this problem if the parents were doing their job and keeping control of their kids.”	“If we can force parents to be involved, they can take responsibility for their kids”
Social Worker	“The parents are having problems, and they’re not able to handle these children.”	“Some of the worst kids need to be taken out of their bad home environments. The rest we can require to do some type of community service or something.”

Second Scenario: Asset Perspective

When group members examine the characteristics of a healthy, safe neighborhood, the focus can be more easily directed towards shared solutions. An asset approach empowers diversity and leads to a positive long-term commitment to building a healthy, capable community.

Participant	Perception of Issue	Potential Actions
Parent	“Children who feel cared for and who care about others.”	“Create some place where these kids can do kid things without bothering others in the community.”
City Official	“A strong support system.”	“Neighborhood adults and children need to spend more time involved in activities together.”
Police Officer	“Kids who are involved in positive activities like sports, 4H, or church groups.”	“Create opportunities for these kids to use their talents in positive ways.”
Student	“Feeling good about who you are and having positive self-esteem.”	“We need people in our lives, teachers, or community police, who will give us boosts when we're down and let us know where the limits are.”
Teacher	“Children who feel connected to their community, who feel capable, and who feel like they are contributing to something.”	“Sit down with these youths and have an open conversation, ask for their input on the situation.”
Social Worker	“Knowing that you’re an important and unique person and that you have something to offer.”	“We need to spend time listening to those young people. Find out what is going on with them.”

NEXT PAGE> Go to the next section to see how outcome and asset approaches have been merged to create our Outcome-Asset Impact Model (O-AIM)

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